MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. Russia is making efforts to ensure the release of all Russian nationals who are held hostage by Hamas and hopes for further progress in this area, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

"We are working on this. Things have got off the ground. It is an important event (the release of Russian national Ron Krivoy - TASS). Mr. Krivoy visited the Russian foreign ministry today. A meeting was organized with him. We hope that the situation with the release of hostages and the evacuation of Russian citizens <…> who have a possibility to leave this territory, go to Russia, that this work will yield further results," he told journalists on the sidelines of the Primakov Readings forum.

Earlier, Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with the family of the Russian national, Ron Krivoy, who had been released from the Gaza Strip. His relatives thanked the Russian foreign ministry for its assistance.

Bogdanov told TASS in late October that Hamas officials had promised to answer Russia’s request to release eight Russian nationals who were held hostage.

Hamas announced on November 22 that an agreement on a four-day humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip had been reached through the mediation of Qatar and Egypt. The agreement stipulates the release of 50 women and children under the age of 19 who are held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 150 women and children under the age of 19 from Israeli prisons.

The ceasefire came into force in the Gaza Strip from 8:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. GMT) on November 24.